What do you think?
Rate this book
Ara Zuyev #1
When She's Gone
Ara Zuyev is a secret to nearly everyone, and those who know anything about her have barely scratched the surface. A bodyguard for a powerful billionaire, she is the last line of defense for the family's inner circle. But when her charge, 16-year-old Samantha Harper, is kidnapped and the FBI are called in, Ara immediately comes under suspicion. She didn't follow basic security protocol, which should have been second nature for her. And now Samantha's life hangs in the balance.
Assertive and authoritative, Luke Patrick is the best the FBI has to offer. Nothing about Ara's story is adding up, and when Ara attempts to take control of the investigation, Luke is convinced she knows far more than she's saying.
As the case develops and new details are discovered, Ara and Luke are forced to work together. She needs his investigative team. He needs her inside knowledge of the family. But neither of them trust each other. Their uneasy alliance is formed with one goal in to bring Samantha home alive.
But what initially looks like a simple kidnapping for ransom quickly spirals into something far more sinister in Jane Palmer's explosive series debut When She's Gone .
Assertive and authoritative, Luke Patrick is the best the FBI has to offer. Nothing about Ara's story is adding up, and when Ara attempts to take control of the investigation, Luke is convinced she knows far more than she's saying.
As the case develops and new details are discovered, Ara and Luke are forced to work together. She needs his investigative team. He needs her inside knowledge of the family. But neither of them trust each other. Their uneasy alliance is formed with one goal in to bring Samantha home alive.
But what initially looks like a simple kidnapping for ransom quickly spirals into something far more sinister in Jane Palmer's explosive series debut When She's Gone .
304 pages, Hardcover
Published November 8, 2016
22 people are currently reading
814 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
November 9, 2016
Spoiled and petulant 16 year old Samantha Harper is kidnapped at a restaurant under her bodyguard's nose. Russian born and former policewoman, Ara Zuyev, uncharacteristically leaves her unguarded for a moment and she's gone. Zuyev is immediately on her trail but makes a huge mistake right away.
Samantha is the step-daughter of VERY rich, Oliver Boone, who pulls strings and gets top FBI agent, Luke Patrick, assigned to the case. After a rocky start Ara and Luke form a strong partnership to find Samantha. The case leads them through an art forgery ring and a brush with the Russian mafia.
The action is fast paced and it is a fast reading story. I read it overnight as I just wanted to find out what was going to happen next.
I do want to commend the publishers for not comparing this to The Girl on the Train or Gone Girl or having girl in the title. What a relief that is.
Samantha is the step-daughter of VERY rich, Oliver Boone, who pulls strings and gets top FBI agent, Luke Patrick, assigned to the case. After a rocky start Ara and Luke form a strong partnership to find Samantha. The case leads them through an art forgery ring and a brush with the Russian mafia.
The action is fast paced and it is a fast reading story. I read it overnight as I just wanted to find out what was going to happen next.
I do want to commend the publishers for not comparing this to The Girl on the Train or Gone Girl or having girl in the title. What a relief that is.
October 19, 2016
WHEN SHE'S GONE was an entertaining thriller. Ara Zuyev is a former police officer who is now a bodyguard for a wealthy family. When her charge - seventeen-year-old Sam - is abducted from a restaurant, she has to use all of her talents to get her back. Her employer calls in the FBI - Luke Patrick and his team.
Luke's first suspect is Ara. Ara is a woman of secrets. She left her police job under a cloud after a fiasco of a police raid. She is also keeping secrets about her past in Russia. But Ara isn't the only suspect. Was Sam's secret boyfriend involved? Did it have something to do with the art gallery that Sam and her mother visited the evening she was kidnapped? Is a mysterious Russian criminal involved?
The pace of this story is fast. Events and revelations build the excitement as Ara and Luke rush to put the clues together so that they can rescue Sam before the deadline. I enjoyed this one very much and had to keep reading to find out what was going on.
Fans of fast-paced mysteries will enjoy this one.
Luke's first suspect is Ara. Ara is a woman of secrets. She left her police job under a cloud after a fiasco of a police raid. She is also keeping secrets about her past in Russia. But Ara isn't the only suspect. Was Sam's secret boyfriend involved? Did it have something to do with the art gallery that Sam and her mother visited the evening she was kidnapped? Is a mysterious Russian criminal involved?
The pace of this story is fast. Events and revelations build the excitement as Ara and Luke rush to put the clues together so that they can rescue Sam before the deadline. I enjoyed this one very much and had to keep reading to find out what was going on.
Fans of fast-paced mysteries will enjoy this one.
October 7, 2017
I just happened upon this book while browsing at the library and boy I am glad I did. I really loved this book. Very easy read. Hope she writes another one soon!!
February 14, 2017
Writing a good book is hard. If I tried to write one it would probably come out like this - which is to say it was as generic, boilerplate, and stereotypical as they come. Former cop with physical and emotional scars goes rogue, gets fired, and is working as a bodyguard. FBI agent trying to prove something. They team up to find an abducted teenager. But wait! There's more! Every scary thing (every. single. one.) from the bodyguard's past is wrapped up in this one case. Surprise!
If you like generic thrillers, go for it. I was getting frustrated with books that were slow going and wanted something I could fly through quickly. Given that I could mostly skim this, it worked.
If you like generic thrillers, go for it. I was getting frustrated with books that were slow going and wanted something I could fly through quickly. Given that I could mostly skim this, it worked.
April 18, 2017
Before I write the review, are we absolutely sure that this Jane Palmer is the same Jane Palmer that writes adorable Sci-fi books? That truly is a leap and contrast in genres if so and, wow, more power to her for that capability.
With that said, this is a debut "thriller" from this author about an extremely horrible, spoiled rich girl who is abducted and the bodyguard who is tasked with getting her safely home again. The FBI is called in and normally I am not a fan of the feebs but this guy is passable. The fact that the Russian mafia is involved seemed both timely and, at times, contrived based on current events. However, the back story of bodyguard Ara Zuyev was both interesting and mostly believable and her Russian connection was plausible in this context. The characters were well developed, you rightly disliked the family but understood Zuyev's intense need to save the kidnapped daughter despite all that we learn about her.
The writing had some flaws, there were some cliches that were typical of "first" novels so my rating is lower but overall it was a good thriller and I hope we see more from this author and this character.
With that said, this is a debut "thriller" from this author about an extremely horrible, spoiled rich girl who is abducted and the bodyguard who is tasked with getting her safely home again. The FBI is called in and normally I am not a fan of the feebs but this guy is passable. The fact that the Russian mafia is involved seemed both timely and, at times, contrived based on current events. However, the back story of bodyguard Ara Zuyev was both interesting and mostly believable and her Russian connection was plausible in this context. The characters were well developed, you rightly disliked the family but understood Zuyev's intense need to save the kidnapped daughter despite all that we learn about her.
The writing had some flaws, there were some cliches that were typical of "first" novels so my rating is lower but overall it was a good thriller and I hope we see more from this author and this character.
February 19, 2017
In Jane Palmer's When She's Gone, the first installment in the Ara Zuyev thriller series, this fast-paced thriller will keep you at the edge of your seat. For bodyguard Ara Zuyev, a woman with a mysterious past and a former cop, she's sworn to protect Samantha Harper, the stepdaughter of millionaire Oliver Boone. When she was kidnapping from a restaurant, she chases the van that snatched her from her eyes. That's when the FBI is called in and Agent Luke Patrick is one the case. In order for them to talk together, they needed to trust each other. For the both of them, they discovered that Sam orchestrated the kidnapping as payback, which had taken a dangerous turn for the worst. After Oliver receives a ransom request via phone, she listened to her message on the phone and played it back in her mind to connect the dots. She pieced the together about the forged paintings from the gallery, which has dangerous Russian mob connections. In a race against time with the body count piling up, Ara puts herself in the line and faces somebody from her past to bring Sam home.
March 4, 2017
Good easy read. I will read the next installment though
June 20, 2017
I don't give one star reviews because I think anyone who can write a book and publish it? RESPEK!
Also, the book blurb says Jane Palmer was a lawyer, then a stay at home mom and then decided to write? That's awesome.
This was her freshman effort so considering that, not bad. I know these mystery books have a formula for a reason; people come to like/expect them. Like an old threadbare pair of boxers it's comforting and doesn't take a lot of bandwidth to process a formulaic story. This one features Ara, the dark mysterious body guard who is hiding a murky past as a cop. Working as protection officer of Holly (wife of billionaire Oliver Boone) and her daughter the unimaginable happens: the teen daughter is kidnapped right under her nose. Mayhem ensues, etc.
The things I take issue with largely lay at the feet of the brain dead editor(s). I could play a drinking game with all of the times I noted 'tilted her chin'; 'flexed his jaw'; sent tingles/shivers down her spine'; etc. The overly repetitious physical descriptions encumbered the flow of the story. Plain and simple. It became like a tic and it distracted me from delving into the story. It's like wearing accessories: before you go out, look in the mirror and take off the first thing you notice. TOO. FUCKING. MUCH. This is not the first time an editor did a slovenly job either; I recall reviewing a recent Harlan Coben book where the editing was also non existent. So, even a seasoned writer with a cult following like Harlan can suffer a shit editor.
Also, the characters I didn't feel were compelling. Maybe a bit too two dimensional, more sketches than paintings. So as a reader I didn't feel invested when any of them were in peril. It happens!
I also found it unrealistic that Ara would even be thinking about romance with the investigating agent on the kidnapping, FBI agent Luke Patrick. This is someone whose charge was kidnapped while she was on duty. And she has time to day dream about this agent like a fatuous teenager?
Nope. It seems like Palmer is making this a series so I understand she is setting up the main characters now. But a little 'make them wait' here would have gone a long way.
For a first book it wasn't terrible, but please, PLEASE, get new editors.
Also, the book blurb says Jane Palmer was a lawyer, then a stay at home mom and then decided to write? That's awesome.
This was her freshman effort so considering that, not bad. I know these mystery books have a formula for a reason; people come to like/expect them. Like an old threadbare pair of boxers it's comforting and doesn't take a lot of bandwidth to process a formulaic story. This one features Ara, the dark mysterious body guard who is hiding a murky past as a cop. Working as protection officer of Holly (wife of billionaire Oliver Boone) and her daughter the unimaginable happens: the teen daughter is kidnapped right under her nose. Mayhem ensues, etc.
The things I take issue with largely lay at the feet of the brain dead editor(s). I could play a drinking game with all of the times I noted 'tilted her chin'; 'flexed his jaw'; sent tingles/shivers down her spine'; etc. The overly repetitious physical descriptions encumbered the flow of the story. Plain and simple. It became like a tic and it distracted me from delving into the story. It's like wearing accessories: before you go out, look in the mirror and take off the first thing you notice. TOO. FUCKING. MUCH. This is not the first time an editor did a slovenly job either; I recall reviewing a recent Harlan Coben book where the editing was also non existent. So, even a seasoned writer with a cult following like Harlan can suffer a shit editor.
Also, the characters I didn't feel were compelling. Maybe a bit too two dimensional, more sketches than paintings. So as a reader I didn't feel invested when any of them were in peril. It happens!
I also found it unrealistic that Ara would even be thinking about romance with the investigating agent on the kidnapping, FBI agent Luke Patrick. This is someone whose charge was kidnapped while she was on duty. And she has time to day dream about this agent like a fatuous teenager?
Nope. It seems like Palmer is making this a series so I understand she is setting up the main characters now. But a little 'make them wait' here would have gone a long way.
For a first book it wasn't terrible, but please, PLEASE, get new editors.
April 9, 2019
An average thriller
This was a book that caught my attention when I was looking for a different book. The idea of it is really interest, and Are was an interesting character. To be completely honest, though, I can't really say that I liked her. There was a lot of twists and breadcrumbs that made this a pretty interesting thriller. But, the pacing was inconsistent so parts of it dragged at times. If I had to pick I e character that I liked, it would be Luke. The other characters weren't likable, or we were not given the room to really get to k is them and become invested in their role in the story.
As much as it pains me to say this, founding really miss anything if you don't pick this one up.
This was a book that caught my attention when I was looking for a different book. The idea of it is really interest, and Are was an interesting character. To be completely honest, though, I can't really say that I liked her. There was a lot of twists and breadcrumbs that made this a pretty interesting thriller. But, the pacing was inconsistent so parts of it dragged at times. If I had to pick I e character that I liked, it would be Luke. The other characters weren't likable, or we were not given the room to really get to k is them and become invested in their role in the story.
As much as it pains me to say this, founding really miss anything if you don't pick this one up.
October 25, 2018
Fast paced, exciting book. Ara has a history as a police officer; there is a mystery related to her decision to leave the police force and an even older mystery surrounding the scars on her body.
Now she is a personal bodyguard to a teenage girl, Sam. Sam is the step daughter of a multimillionaire. When she is kidnapped while under Ara’s care, the FBI is brought in.
Luke, the FBI officer in charge of the case, and Ara, are wary of each other but have to learn to get along in order to find Sam before she is killed.
Would love to read more from this author.
Now she is a personal bodyguard to a teenage girl, Sam. Sam is the step daughter of a multimillionaire. When she is kidnapped while under Ara’s care, the FBI is brought in.
Luke, the FBI officer in charge of the case, and Ara, are wary of each other but have to learn to get along in order to find Sam before she is killed.
Would love to read more from this author.
November 13, 2021
A good thriller, with a twist as to who was targeted by the kidnapping. The characters were well developed and I got invested in their stories. Great plot. There were a couple of places where the narrative didn't flow as smoothly. It was a break in scenes that felt choppy. This story kept me reading, a real page-turner. Although this is probably a one-off novel I hope that the author writes more stories with Ara and Luke, because I really like those two characters and their interactions. I'll be looking for more books from this author.
August 26, 2021
Not a bad story, just nothing new - it's pretty stereotypical. Ex-cop leading lady with a dark past gets tangled up in a case where she meets an FBI dude who she butts heads with immediately, and has obvious sexual tension with. The story focuses mostly on them trying to solve the case, and the plot went pretty much as you'd expect.
August 30, 2019
I was in the library and saw this book, the title jumped out at me and after reading the jacket cover, I figured why not! I read this book quickly, super fast read and I understand that it is going to be a series. Excited for the next book. If you are a fan of thrillers that keep you guessing, try this book, it is sure to keep you intrigued.
August 21, 2021
A quick read of how a past can carry forward your whole life if you let it. A time of regret without self-forgiveness will now allow the heart and soul to heal. The author keeps the story and plot going althea way to the last page.
June 27, 2017
Not too bad a thriller but the ending is much like a lot of thriller endings--violent and highly unlikely.
The heroine (or hero) is triumphant after much silly violence and heroic actions.
The heroine (or hero) is triumphant after much silly violence and heroic actions.
September 24, 2018
A horrific & tragic past that shape the person she has become. A kidnapping brings all those hidden memories back to life. She will do anything to save this person's life. Recommend. Happy Reading
October 25, 2021
Ara's private detective activities were too "cloak and dagger for me"--involving the Russian mafia
January 7, 2024
this was an easy read, a faced paced thriller without being too gory which I appreciate
May 25, 2025
Fast paced read with good story line and good characters. Looking forward to read more ny this author.
December 13, 2016
Don't pick up this book unless you have time to read it cover to cover. This is a book that I just couldn't put down. Fantastic story line, a woman with secrets of her own is the body guard of a billionaire's teen-aged daughter. This daughter plots to get back at her mother and her step father by setting up a fake kidnapping, but things didn't go quite as planned. Many twists and turns in the thriller. Completely enjoyed the read!
January 14, 2017
Debut author, this novel grabs you from page one and doesn't let go! If you read only one thriller this year, make it this one, you won't be sorry. Ara is a flawed heroine, strong, capable, intriguing, while very human. Jane Palmer delivers. You won't see the end until you get there! This debut was so polished and well crafted that I can't wait to see more of this author and this heroine.
January 2, 2017
This was just kind of meh to me. It was a fast read for sure. But it wasn't that exciting. Plus all of the grammatical errors? Did an editor not read this beforehand?! I can usually let one or two mistakes slide but this book had multiples on the same page sometimes.
September 2, 2016
Loved this book! One of the best "I never saw that coming!" books. I have read so many twists and turns it is impossible to say one step ahead. I would not change a thing! Great Book.
September 29, 2016
This was well written and action packed.
November 9, 2016
ALL the stars!
I need more stars!!
Fast paced wild ride. Loved this book! Wow!!!
I need more stars!!
Fast paced wild ride. Loved this book! Wow!!!
December 24, 2016
Excellent book. This is the 1st of Jane Palmer that I have read. Can't wait to read the next in this series.
December 28, 2016
It was entertaining enough but nothing really new.
January 19, 2017
Great new author
March 26, 2017
3.5 stars, taking it for what it is, an enjoyable quick read.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews